"It is a truism that, in media, everyone knows they are being sold
something all the time. It is exactly because of this that we become
blind to the subtle seductions of contemporary commercial culture--and
Michael Serazio is here to open our eyes." --Mark Deuze, author of
Media Life and Media Work "Michael Serazio has produced an extremely
important and engaging book: well researched and highly readable, it
provides a detailed and compelling account of the mechanisms of consumer
governance at work in the digital age. It deserves a wide readership
among scholars and students alike." --Liz Moor, Goldsmiths, University
of London Amidst the profound upheavals in technology, economics, and
culture that mark the contemporary moment, marketing strategies have
multiplied, as brand messages creep ever deeper into our private lives.
In Your Ad Here, an engaging and timely new book, Michael Serazio
investigates the rise of "guerrilla marketing" as a way of understanding
increasingly covert and interactive flows of commercial persuasion.
Digging through a decade of trade press coverage and interviewing dozens
of agency CEOs, brand managers, and creative directors, Serazio
illuminates a diverse and fascinating set of campaign examples: from the
America's Army video game to Pabst Blue Ribbon's "hipster hijack,"
from buzz agent bloggers and tweeters to The Dark Knight's "Why So
Serious?" social labyrinth. Blending rigorous analysis with eye-opening
reporting and lively prose, Your Ad Here reveals the changing ways
that commercial culture is produced today. Serazio goes
behind-the-scenes with symbolic creators to appreciate the professional
logic informing their work, while giving readers a glimpse into this new
breed of "hidden persuaders" optimized for 21st-century media content,
social patterns, and digital platforms. Ultimately, this new form of
marketing adds up to a subtle, sophisticated orchestration of consumer
conduct and heralds a world of advertising that pretends to have nothing
to sell. Michael Serazio is an Assistant Professor in the Department
of Communication at Fairfield University. An award-winning former
journalist, he continues to write about popular culture, advertising,
and new media for The Atlantic, among other publications. In the
Postmillennial Pop series
